Heel



July 26, 1955 5. J. CANGEMI HEEL Filed Sept. 26, 1952 M 2m mm C 4;ATTORNEY United States Patent HEEL Salvatore J. Cangemi, Brooklyn, N. Y.Application September 26, 1952, Serial No. 311,710

3 Claims. or. 36-34) The present invention relates to ladies shoes andmore particularly to improvements in the heels of such shoes and in theconnections between the heels and the shoes.

An important object of the invention is to provide heels of novel andadvantageous construction and appearance.

Another important object of the invention is to provide novel andadvantageous openwork heels.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the high heel of a ladiesshoe is formed of an upper part comprising a stiff foot-supportingmember of suitable material such as fiber, and rods connecting the sameto a bottom plate. At the lower face of each bottom plate there issecured a lift of suitable material such as leather, rubber, fiber orcomposition. Said plate is preferably of metal such as steel and isprovided around its border with a series of holes into which the lowerends of said rods fit. Said rods are preferably of metal such as steeland may be secured in the base plate by spot welding. Preferably saidholes extend only part way through said plate. Said foot-supportingmember is preferably covered at its bottom with suitable material andthen rod-receiving holes are bored through the border of said member andsaid covering material.

Said holes in the foot-supporting member or part of a shoe bottom, arearranged in the general outline of the top of an ordinary heel, and saidholes in said plate are arranged in the general outline of the lower endof a heel. The parts of the rods between the shoe bottom and the bottomplate are also shaped to follow the general outline of a heel. The upperends of said rods or wires may be held against movement through theholes of said foot-supporting member by suitable means such as nutsthreaded on said rods before their insertion through said member andother nuts threaded thereon after such insertion.

In the embodiment just referred to, the supporting member may be therear end of a shank piece comprising the rear end of an outsole or of ashank piece taking the place of the rear end of the outsole, and isengaged at its upper face by the upper set of nuts. In some instancesthe rods may pass upwardly through the insole and the upper face of saidinsole be engaged by said nuts, and the insole will constitute part ofthe foot support.

Obviously a round rod is particularly satisfactory, in that holes toreceive it would be so easy to bore and resistance of the rod to bendingwould be equally strong in all directions. Of course rods ofcross-section in the form of a regulator polygon could easily be securedin a round hole.

While metals appear to be the most available materials for the rods, itwould obviously be feasible to employ strong plastic material or wood.

Other objects, features and advantages will appear upon consideration ofthe following detailed construction and of the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a shoe of which the heel embodies apreferred form of the invention;

2,713,731 Patented July 26, 1955 "Ice Fig. 2 is a section on a largerscale illustrating a rod attached to a heel seat;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on a larger scale taken through the middleof the heel base;

Fig. 4 is a section taken along a line 4--4 on Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the upper endof a rod extending through the insole as well as the shank piece andsecured thereto by means including a nut engaging the upper face of theinsole.

Referring to the drawings and first to Fig. 1 there is illustrated ashoe comprising an upper constituted by a vamp 11, a shank 12 and a heel13 embodying the present invention. Said shank comprises a usual steelshank (not shown) beneath shank piece 14 (Fig. 2) of suitable materialsuch as stiff fiber which is covered at its bottom and around its sideedges by the outside leather 15 or other covering material. Above saidshank piece 14 is an insole 16 (Fig. 2) and above said insole 16 is asock lining 17. The edge of said insole is also covered by leather.

In the shoe illustrated in Fig. 1, outsole 18 ends just to the rear ofthe position to be occupied by the ball of the foot and the shank piece14 is substantially a continuation of the outsole 18. In most shoes ofthis general character the outsole is continued along the shank to theheel and the continuation takes the place of the present shank piece 14.The rear end of shank piece 14 may be considered to constitute a heelsupport 19 in itself but the rear end of the insole 16 may also beconsidered as part of said heel support.

The heel 13 comprises a plurality of rods 20 connected at their upperends to the heel support 19 and at their lower ends to a plate 21 ofsuitable material. Attached to plate 21 at its lower face is a heel lift22 of suitable material such as leather, rubber or composition. Althoughthe rods 20 may be made of any suitable material, they are disclosedherein as made of metal such as iron or steel, and round in crosssection. The plate 21 may also be of metal and provided with seven holes23 (Fig. 4) to receive the lower ends of said rods. Said holes 23preferably do not extend through plate 21 and the lower ends of saidrods are secured in said holes as by spot welding.

The upper ends of rods 20 are shown as screw-threaded and said upperends are provided with nuts 24 to engage the lower face of the shankpiece 14 and with nuts 24 to engage the top of the heel seat 19. Asshown in Fig. 2, the upper nuts engage the upper face of shank piece 14.It is practicable to cover the lower side of shank piece 14, withcovering material such as leather, bore holes 25 (Fig. 2) therethrough,insert the upper ends of rods 20 and screw on the upper nuts. The insole16 and sock lining 17 are then fastened down over the upper ends of rods20 and upper nuts 24. Obviously the lower nuts act only as shoulders toengage members at parts around. Such shoulders might be provided inother ways. One way would be to form each such shoulder integral withthe rods. Also the outer nuts 24 on the rods could be omitted and therods fastened in other ways.

The heel lift 22 is secured to bottom plate 21 by means including ascrew 26 and pin 27 (Figs. 3 and 4).

In Fig. 5 heel seat 19: also includes insole 16 and the upper nuts 24engage the upper face of said insole 16. The sock lining 17 covers theupper nuts 24.

It should be understood that various changes can be made and thatcertain features can be used without others, without departing from thetrue scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A heel for ladies shoes comprising a fiat base memher and supportingmeans consisting of rods secured at their lower ends to said base andhaving adjustable fastening devices at their upper ends.

2. A heel for ladies shoes comprising a flat base with holes. at itsmarginextending part way through said base, and supporting 'rneansconsisting of rods having lower ends fitting into and secured in saidholes and upper ends provided with fastening devices.

3. A heel for ladies shoes comprising a metal base with holes arrangedalong the margin of its upper face and extending part way through saidbase, and supporting means consisting of metal rods with their lowerends secured in said holes and with their upper ends screwthreaded, andtwo nuts on the upper end of each rod to serve as upper and lowerabutments.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

